A Fight For The Books

City-run Libraries Confront A `Taxing' Problem In Bid To Reclaim A Portion Of State Revenue

February 23, 1997|By BRIDGETTE L. RALLO Special to the Sun-Sentinel

When it comes to state funds for libraries, the gloves come off.

They came off in 1983 when state legislators, backed by the Florida State Library and county library systems, voted to withhold taxpayer-funded operating grants from virtually all municipal libraries.

The results, said the chief librarians from three of Broward County's five city libraries - Lighthouse Point, Oakland Park and Wilton Manors - have been financially catastrophic.

All five libraries, including those in Plantation and Parkland, have faced the same higher costs as state and county systems, which continue to receive operating grants.

But municipal libraries must depend solely on local tax dollars to fill in the funding gaps left by inflation and spiraling prices.

Only cities with populations of at least 200,000 are still eligible for state funding. St. Petersburg's is the only city library that meets the criteria.

Wilton Manors Librarian Marcia Ellington said the state restrictions were imposed despite the fact that all residents are taxed to pay for library services.

``This is, to me, bottom-line wrong. Everyone of us pays these taxes,'' she said. ``Why should municipal libraries be excluded from the state fund?''

FOR THE RECORD - ******CORRECTION PUBLISHED WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1997******Because of a reporting error, a Feb. 16 article in Northeast Broward Community Close-Up incorrectly stated the estimated cost of a project to replace 1,700 feet of water pipe on State Road A1A in Hillsboro Beach. The cost is expected to be $80,000. Eckler Engineering, a Coral Springs firm, also was misidentified as the project contractor. Eckler may be hired to draw up the project's plans.We regret the errors.

Ellington's question comes at the start of another legislative session in Tallahassee, one in which the city-backed Florida Public Library Association feels that it has almost run out of options.

The group has hired a lobbyist to monitor bills concerning library funding, but expectations this year are at an all-time low.

Chief librarians Doreen Gauthier of Lighthouse Point and Alicia McHugh of Oakland Park are asking the same question and coming up with the same answer, although both are quick to say that the problem is political and not personal.

``We have very good working relationships with Broward County's professional librarians. This has nothing to do with cooperation,'' Gauthier said.

According to McHugh, it's more a matter of institutional elitism on the part of state and county system advocates.

They are, the two women admitted, well-organized and powerful foes. In 1989, supporters of state and county systems opposed a revision to Florida's library law that would have allowed for the distribution of funds based on population for all municipal libraries meeting state standards. The legislation didn't pass.

Other legislative bids to share funds failed in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1994. State and county system advocates maintain that city libraries serve restricted populations and are not available to the public at large.

Tallahassee legislators have agreed. But by that same standard, said Gauthier, county libraries that refuse to lend books to residents of other counties would fail to qualify as well.

``We serve each and every individual who comes through that door,'' she said. ``And in some areas, we do a better job. It is a fact that people use the library closest to their homes almost all of the time.''

In spite of that fact, county advocates continue to insist that their system offers a more efficient use of state resources.

Other figures, some ironically gathered by the state Division of Library Services, are cited by Gauthier, McHugh and Ellington as proof that the provisions of the law were based on politics, not merit.

In one such group of figures, at least nine municipal libraries made the state's Top 10 list in five of six categories, including square feet per capita, total expenditures per capita, volumes per capita and library visits per capita.

Nevertheless, residents of the five Broward cities that maintain municipal libraries pay three separate library taxes: a state, county and local levy. Of those three, only the local tax provides operating funds to the respective city libraries.

It's a situation that's not about to change anytime soon, agreed the three librarians, unless residents make it an issue with state legislators.

``The county is part of a large PAC and, right now, they have all the power because they claim to represent everybody,'' Gauthier said.

``We tend to forget,'' McHugh said, ``that this is a service-oriented field, not a fund-generating proposition.''

Said Ellington, ``After all, we're all in this for one purpose . . . to serve the needs of the community.''